Rumsfeld calls move 'a good thing for everybody'

RUMSFELD: RESIGNEDHe calls move 'a good thing for everybody'Departure of the embattled defense chief welcomed by both sides of aisle

MICHAEL HEDGES, Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

Published 6:30 am, Thursday, November 9, 2006

WASHINGTON — In an abrupt reaction to the Democrats' sweeping election victory in Congress, President Bush accepted the resignation Wednesday of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a major architect of the unpopular Iraq war. Bush named Robert Gates, the Texas A&M University president and former CIA director, to replace him.

"Secretary Rumsfeld and I agreed that sometimes it's necessary to have a fresh perspective, and Bob Gates will bring a fresh perspective," Bush told reporters.

The move came less than a week after Bush emphatically told reporters that Rumsfeld would stay on as his secretary of defense until the end of the administration's term. At the time, while under heavy pressure from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress, Bush already was laying the groundwork for removing the controversial Pentagon chief.

"I didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign," Bush told reporters Wednesday. "And so the only way to answer that question, and to get you on to another question, was to give you that answer."

The group is scheduled to report soon on U.S. options in the war, which has claimed the lives of at least 2,830 U.S. troops and cost about $300 billion.

The electorate lost faith

The war has become more and more unpopular in the United States since the American-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 quickly overwhelmed Saddam Hussein's forces. Surveys at polling places indicated that about six in 10 voters disapproved of the war and that only a third believed it improved long-term U.S. security.

Bush said he planned to meet with Baker's group early next week. Gates' nomination was seen as a further indication that Bush planned to adopt the group's recommendations.

The news of Rumsfeld's removal was met with near universal approval and even relief in Washington.

"This important change offers the administration and Congress a fresh opportunity to examine all aspects of our strategy and tactics in Iraq and make whatever changes are necessary to succeed there," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a front-runner for the 2008 GOP presidential nomination, who said months ago that he'd lost confidence in Rumsfeld.

The Democratic response

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the presumptive speaker of the House, welcomed the news: "Secretary Rumsfeld has lost the confidence of his most crucial constituency: the men and women of our armed forces."

For Rumsfeld, 74, the forced resignation was a bitter fall from the heady days when he reveled in high-profile news conferences as U.S. forces dispatched the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 and deposed Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Looking worn out at a brief appearance with Bush and Gates in the White House, Rumsfeld thanked the president for the chance to lead the Pentagon, then quoted Winston Churchill: "I have benefited greatly from criticism, and at no time did I suffer a lack thereof."

Rumsfeld described the Iraq war as a "little understood, unfamiliar war" that is "complex for people to comprehend."

Later, at the Pentagon, Rumsfeld told reporters it was a good time to leave. "It will be a different Congress, a different environment, moving toward a presidential election and a lot of partisanship," he said. "It struck me that this would be a good thing for everybody."

The opposition worsened

The criticism of Rumsfeld became especially intense last spring when a number of top military leaders called for his resignation, saying he is incompetent. It spiked again last month with the publication of State of Denial by Washington Post writer Bob Woodward. He painted a withering portrait of Rumsfeld as a bully and petulant in-fighter who was greatly unprepared for the aftermath of the Iraq invasion.

Rumsfeld had twice offered to step down after the scandal over the treatment of Iraqi prisoners in Abu Ghraib in 2004, but each time Bush declined to accept his resignation.

Later, after Bush was re-elected, his chief of staff, Andy Card, urged him to replace Rumsfeld with Baker, according to Woodward's book.

Now, the recommendations under development by Baker and Hamilton's group are viewed as America's best — and perhaps last — shot at salvaging the situation in Iraq.

"I think the commission has credibility, and, therefore, I would hope that they are looking at all the options to determine what has the best chance to succeed," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.

Though no leaks have emerged on the group's proposals, speculation has centered on broad initiatives that could involve meetings with Iran and Syria in an effort to stabilize not only Iraq but the entire region.

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, who has met with the group, said all options are on the table except a swift withdrawal of U.S. forces.

No date was set for the departure of Rumsfeld, who next month will become the longest-serving defense secretary in U.S. history. Gates cannot be confirmed until January at the earliest.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada, whose party will control the Senate next year should its win in Virginia hold up to a possible recount, said he had questions about Gates' ties to the Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan administration.

Rumsfeld became the youngest man to head the Pentagon in 1975, holding the job for 14 months under President Gerald Ford. He became the first person to hold the job twice when appointed by Bush in 2001.

Fate changed course

His latest tour at the Defense Department was to be a triumph of his vision to transform the military into a lighter, more technologically dependent force freed from Cold War dictates and focused on 21st-century enemies.

But, as military commanders say, the enemy had a vote.

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and war on terrorism changed Rumsfeld's legacy. He was a strong backer of the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In both cases, swift, dazzling military victories were followed by bloody, costly occupations that critics said were exacerbated by a lack of planning.

Bush said Wednesday that the reality is "that it's a tough fight."

"And we're going to win the fight," the president said. "And I truly believe the only way we won't win is if we leave before the job is done."